Merry Christmas from the Casey’s in Montana. Here’s the living room after the presents were opened and the dinner was eaten. A long and happy day!
This old-time dancing is called flat-footing or buck dancing. I was inspired to learn more about it after laughing at this video on Kottke.org and I love it. Watch this great clip from Talking Feet, a full-length documentary on the subject.
Here’s the whole film. I’m home now and got to I watch it with my mom this morning over coffees. It’s worth seeing for the characters who love this kind of dancing and the very strange style of interviewing a person with their family distracting you from the background. I don’t think filmmakers intend to mock the subjects of the film, but some of them are so enjoyably strange it’s hard not to smirk as you admire their smirk inducing dancing.
With school on holiday I’m on my way home. First stop San Francisco, and the Italian consulate general to apply for my student visa for the rest of the term. The process was a lot smoother here and—knock wood—I’ll have my passport returned to me just in time to get back to Florence in the first few days of 2012.
While here I stayed with my friend Nikolas, a gracious host and one of the resident artists at the very cool Main Street Theater, a space that he’s been working on and building up together with three other friends. I’ll be back through this way for New Year’s Eve, hopefully then I’ll have the presence of mind to take some photo’s of the place, but first I’m Montana-bound.
These are a few of the choicest examples of the Florentine street artist Booe or Booey. There are very few tags, mostly you see the big gumdrops and the popsicle is an anomaly as far as I’ve seen. They have become little totems for me walking through Florence, just as the little men and sasquaches of the Wellington street artist Neonate kept me company while I was studying theater in Wellington.
Whoever this Booe/Booey is, I think the number of pieces he’s got around town will stay the same. All of the one’s I’ve seen are a bit weathered or painted over and I haven’t seen any fresh paint. Maybe he’s grown up or gotten arrested too many times or just moved out of town. In any case, I’ll keep snapping photos as I find new pieces, and I’ll be keeping them here.
Peter and Barbara hosted a lovely brunch this Sunday that included haircuts and Uno. I met their friend Martina who stopped by with her special pair of sissors to give anyone who wanted one a haircut.
